Looking back, Nancy Adams Johnson probably doesn’t think the money was worth it. On December 18, Johnson, former chief negotiator for the United Auto Workers with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, was sentenced in Detroit federal court to a year and a day in prison, and ordered to pay restitution and a $10,000 fine, for conspiring with certain UAW and Chrysler officials to receive more than $40,000 in cash payments and gifts in return for dropping certain issues during contract talks a few years ago. Johnson, who had been slapped with a five-count indictment this March, pleaded guilty in July. She is the seventh person to be sentenced in the scandal, which first came to light in July 2017. The actions follow a joint probe by the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.

On December 10, Johnnie Nicholas, former financial secretary of United Mine Workers Local 4994, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to seven days of incarceration and three years of supervised release for embezzling $37,900 from the New Philadelphia, Ohio-based union. He also was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service, and pay a $10,000 fine and a $100 special assessment. At sentencing, he paid residual restitution in the sum of $17,650. Nicholas had pleaded guilty in May following an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.… Read More ➡

Juan Diaz de la Torre, until recently the head of the Mexican teachers union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion (SNTE), may have done the impossible by creating nostalgia for his predecessor, Elba Esther Gordillo Morales. Late in October, a group of member teachers filed a criminal complaint against de la Torre, accusing him of embezzling millions of pesos. “There are thousands of teachers in the country who are in the dark because they don’t know what their money is being used for,” said spokesman Venancio Morales Zuniga. The SNTE countered with its own suit, claiming the charge is “totally false and devoid of reality.” But with pressure on him growing, de la Torre stepped down a month later. The main beneficiary of all this – perish the thought – may be Ms. Gordillo, released from house arrest in August. Her supporters, regrettably, include teachers.

Considering what he stole, Gregory Normand should be feeling a bit lucky. On December 4, Normand, former secretary-treasurer of Local 324 of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), Transportation Division, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to 18 months in prison for embezzling funds from the Marysville, Wash.-based union. He also was ordered to pay $217,260 in restitution. Normand had been indicted in October 2017 for embezzling $443,000, and had pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and two counts of making false statements this past July. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

According to prosecutors, Gregory Normand, now 58, a resident of Marysville (Snohomish County, near Seattle), used his union position, which he had held for six years, to steal funds in a variety of ways. First, he reimbursed … Read More ➡

For almost a decade, Ivar Carlson used his union bank account as it were a personal one, and without anyone noticing. People now have noticed. On December 6, Carlson, former business agent and treasurer for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local B-395, was arrested and then charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with one count of embezzling $37,014 in funds from the union, which represents workers at the DCU Center in Worcester. The charge follows an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

According to federal prosecutors, Carlson, now 58, a resident of Auburn, Mass., during March 2007-September 2016 used his positions at IATSE Local B-395 to write checks from the union bank account, cash the checks, and use the funds for unauthorized purchases. After appearing in court, he was released on conditions. He faces up to five years in prison, up to … Read More ➡

Should a corporation be forced to negotiate alongside contractors or franchisees even if it doesn’t set their workplace standards? Once again, the National Labor Relations Board is attempting to clarify this contentious issue. On September 14, the NLRB issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would assign a company ‘joint’ or ‘dual’ employer status along with its affiliate “only if the two employers share or codetermine the employee’s essential terms and conditions of employment, such as hiring, firing, discipline, supervision, and direction.” In effect, the board wants to restore a longstanding, and more realistic, definition that predated its Obama-era ruling in Browning-Ferris. Unions, by contrast, want to retain the widened the definition to expand the possibilities for corporate liability for unfair labor practices.

On November 28, Dennis and Dorian Nicely, respectively, former vice president and former business agent for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 264, were sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to 10 months in prison, to be followed by 180 days of home detention and three years of probation, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and embezzlement from the Hampton, Va.-based union. The husband-and-wife couple also were ordered to pay the remaining $53,704 in restitution from the $57,310 stolen. Each had pleaded guilty in July after being charged in June. The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.… Read More ➡

Terry Doan is a perfect example of why a union official should not be trusted with disbursing funds without the approval of at least one other fellow official. The union now has found out the hard way. On November 13, Doan, secretary-treasurer and a trustee of the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee of Heat & Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 84, was indicted in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on one count of embezzling nearly $200,000 from the training fund over a five-year period. Local 84 is based in Kent, Ohio. The indictment follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to prosecutors, Doan, now 60, a resident of Deerfield (Portage County), Ohio, back in 2012 used his positions to rescind a requirement that training fund checks above a certain amount have the signature of two trustees. That move gave him carte blanche to … Read More ➡

Virdell King wasn’t the main character in the self-dealing among certain officials of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the United Auto Workers. But she may be headed for a brief stretch behind bars anyway. On November 13, Ms. King, a former contract negotiator for the UAW, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to two months in prison plus a year of supervised release for her receipt of tens of thousands of dollars from the till of the company’s National Training Center (NTC) in return for a promise to drop certain union demands during collective bargaining a few years ago. She also was ordered to pay a $5,500 fine and a $100 special assessment. The sentencing follows a joint probe by the FBI, the IRS and the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards and Office of Inspector General.

The defendants came into the courtroom in large volume, but the judge was more than up to the task. On November 19, fully 27 members of local unions affiliated with the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of the United Association of Carpenters and Joiners were sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana for defrauding the council’s health care program out of a combined $531,422.68. Though court records do not indicate any prison sentences, the defendants, all of them Indiana residents, were ordered to pay restitution. The actions follow a joint investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General and Employee Benefits Security Administration, assisted by Indiana state officials.

According to prosecutors, each of the accused union members had filed fake claims for medical expenses with the Greenwood, Ind.-based council. One of them, Luka Kljajic, who pleaded guilty this July, during 2012-14 had coached various … Read More ➡